


gunfire, explosions, and the sound of your voice

by rkvian



Series: Honey Whiskey [6]
Category: Apex Legends (Video Games)
Genre: Apex Games, Developing Relationship, F/M, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Teamwork, Temporary Blindness, Wraith and Mirage are Bash Brothers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-22
Updated: 2020-09-22
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:00:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26388316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rkvian/pseuds/rkvian
Summary: Wraith can't see, Mirage can't move, and their third bailed on them. It's one hell of a Game, but they aren't going down without a fight.
Relationships: Mirage | Elliott Witt/Wraith | Renee Blasey
Series: Honey Whiskey [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1811650
Comments: 3
Kudos: 35





	gunfire, explosions, and the sound of your voice

“I’ve never been to a planetarium before.”

Mirage gave her an amused look from across the room, “Is it a bucket list thing or is this the match talking?”

"Both," Wraith looked away from the first bright stars across Talos' purple sunset sky, "maybe."

It’s the last Game of the day, at a time where the ring was small enough to have all the teams in close vicinity, but no one wants to engage first and get the brunt of the fire fight. The duo were in the circular building in Thermal Station, down a team member after the random named Byron split up with them from the Train Station and died alone on the tunnel to the Capitol. They managed to deliver his banner to the respawn beacon, but he opted against returning to the Game with them. Not the first time _that_ happened.

Wraith adjusted the 4x-8x scope on the stilt building across the field. There was a figure moving between the metal framing, tossing a gas trap near the ladder. She pinged the movement. “Caustic’s team is there.”

“That’s four teams.” Mirage nodded. “There’s one at the cable car area, Gib's team is at the hill behind that.”

“And Path, Crypto, and Bangalore are in the cafeteria house.” She noted. “We got a minute left ‘til the ring closes.”

“Think we should wait for the last squad to get inside the ring first?”

“We're disadvantaged so that’s the best bet.” She swerved the scope near the hill, “The two-storey house is still empty. I can portal us there if the cable car team doesn't gun for it.”

“Unless the last squad is already camping in.”

“Don't jinx it." With no warning from the Void to clue in on enemies, the Skirmisher pulled the double door close and heaved the sniper off her shoulder. "Here." She offered his Longbow for her Devotion, its skin changed into purple and neon yellow. The Trickster shot her a grin at the sight of Bangalore's bubble head hanging from the side.

"We can take them. Probably." Mirage peeked the sniper through the glass windows for himself, “So, about the planerium—”

“Planetarium.”

“Planet—space place.” He glanced at her expression just in time to catch her shake her head, “You’ve been out there. You’ve seen all the planets in the Outlands in person.”

“I have.”

“And you still wanna go?”

“I just want to check one out, I guess.” She nodded, “Learn a thing or two I haven’t before.”

“Never took you for a scholar.” Before she can react he added, “Though in hindsight, I suppose it makes sense.”

This was Mirage's way of dealing with the strain of the matches. He rambled a lot, mostly to take his mind off the possibility of death within the next five minutes. She used to peg the trait as arrogance and complacency until she learned to recognize it. 

“What made you say that?”

Now, it helped her too.

“I remember getting my stomach sliced open one time and you told me to think about something else and I ended up going off on my holotech." She has a hunch she knew exactly where this was going. "Talked about how without Mom's help I spent years stuck between my schematics and compations—compu—uh, compatations? Numbers—and you started asking me questions about it.” He gestured to his stomach where the scar would have been if not for the Game's medical wonders, “I had my guts out and you were grilling me like my math teacher in third grade.”

Funny now, but she recalled shouting in frustration to keep him still. “It worked out, didn’t it?”

“Barely.”

"Thirty seconds." She said wryly, double checking her Prowler on auto. They can sift around the pile of crates first to make sure they're in the ring, and then make a portal from there to check the target building. "We have to move soon."

Mirage nodded, standing next to her by the door and drawing his Carbine. “So, what kind of info do you find interesting?”

Wraith considered telling him to save the topic for later, but she paused and drew her kunai instead. The Trickster glanced from the movement and then at her hand weaving the blade between her fingers with ease. 

“Did you know the metal used for my kunai was mined specifically in Orthos and nowhere else in the galaxy? Before the Fold Weapon test, the IMC used the moon for artillery trials and accidentally discovered metal possessing a high tensile strength without compromising ductility.”

"Is that why they blew it up?"

"The sources I got weren't clear." She holstered the weapon, "They'd have been stupid to get rid of it on purpose but seeing as the metal's existence was hushed up to a degree even the Militia believed it was manufactured, someone must have messed up."

"Well, shit." The Trickster snickered, "I bet they lost their job too. Imagine if they're supposed to mess up another body of planet, thing, whatever and locked in on the wrong one?"

"Karma, I'd say." Wraith said. "Ten seconds. We have to..."

_You aren't alone._

Her hand froze on the door she's a moment away from shoving. Adrenaline oozed into her veins when the entrance at the base of the stairs opened and the hushed sound of it, coupled with several sets of footsteps made her freeze and swerve to the direction with her SMG. _Revenant_ , was her first thought, but the Synthetic would have charged in protected by his totem and looked at the corpses later. No, this was a different team. Once glance at her duo and she found Mirage looking back at her.

"Ambush," Mirage mouthed, "keep talking."

**Warning: Ring movement in progress.**

"That's, uh, that's that." She said in a pitch a little high to be normal and she cleared her throat. How many on the bottom, how many of them are on top? "I'm guessing they got an dishonorable discharge."

"At _least."_ Mirage said, "Quick death if they're lucky. Come on, this is IMC we're talkin' about."

"Don't let them hear you." She pushed the door open, at the sight of the ring closing in on them. "Let's go. We can't wait for the last team to show up anymore." 

"Finally some action."

Wraith reached for her Devotion with a nod and Mirage sent a decoy jumping off the ledge, running towards the giant slab of bedrock. 

There was nothing at first, until light bullets whizzed from the top of the building and melted the illusion before the decoy's footsteps even hit the ground.

"They know." The one on top of the building shouted, "Kill them!"

"Got the top." The Trickster said

To which the Skirmisher replied, "Stairs."

She aimed and pulled the trigger the moment she sighted a body. Energy bullets burned through purple EVO shield with ease. Her opponent, a woman with bright yellow streaks on dark pink hair, leveled a Peacekeeper back at her. Her shield cracked before she could pull the shotgun's trigger and when the LMG singed straight into the flesh of her left shoulder, she slumped to the curved wall for support. Wraith yanked the weight of her weapon, redirecting her aim for a headshot but her opponent was visibly yanked back.

The sound of her body tumbling down the stairs was replaced by a new set of footsteps and an angry shout of, "heal."

" _Broke his shield_." Mirage called out through the comm, " _I only got one, I don't know where the last is_."

"Here." Wraith shouted back, "I got them."

She peeked at the stairs in case for traps and found none. It's when she pushed two steps down that she came face to face with the last member, a man in dark blue jacket with orange arm stripes. His eyes narrowed and he dug his hand into his pack. The Skirmisher opened fire with her Prowler first, melting his gold shield and leaving him strafing at the scant space. A bullet away from breaking his hardlight however, he whipped a quick arc star to her direction.

The split-second decision made sense the moment his throwable stuck into the stairs next to her right leg—the explosion was instant, shattering her armor and sending electricity zapping through her through her, disorienting her enough to almost miss the threat of another arc star. Wraith considered pushing forward to make the man eat the brunt of his own ammunition, but a single glance beyond the glass window and she knew she'd die here from the ring if she risked it.

"I'm phasing." She clenched her fist and waited for the feedback. 

The woman on the ground discarded her used Medkit syringe and raised her Peacekeeper clumsily, glaring at her.

" _Alright_." Mirage said, " _I'll meet you outsi—_ "

Her surroundings blurred into purple monochrome, and she distantly heard the shotgun hit the wall where she was standing. Wraith holstered her LMG and sprinted to the doorway, hopping over the ledge and letting the jump kit soften the fall. She pushed to her feet at the landing and looked up to see hundreds and thousands of echoes around her all pursuing different paths and fighting different battles.

_Go right._

She followed instinctively, sliding to the right of the flat rock formation. A charged Sentinel shot past her and cracked into the ground the moment she left the Void. Wraith shot a glare at the glint of a scope. Around them, the ring was closing fast, and she dipped into cover as she recharged her shield. The annoyance of getting third partied melted away when she saw Caustic's team mate fire a Kraber bullet towards the Path, Crypto and Bangalore's area. That'll keep their sniper occupied.

Mirage's mangled gasp of pain snatched her attention. " _Wraith_."

"What?"

" _You went the other way._ "

The miscalculation occurred to her when his decoy was hit in the open field. She spotted her duo sliding around the crates tailed by the remaining members of the team, slowing once in a while to chase the Trickster with bullets.

She wasted no time chasing and shooting the Arc Star Man, damaging his gold shield before his companion flicked the charged Peacekeeper at her. The impact sent her stumbling back, dipping her into the sweltering heat of the ring before she could break into another adrenaline fueled sprint. The woman with the Peacekeeper was camping the boulder when she slipped off but the Skirmisher managed to evade the choked shells and unleash a magazine of heavy ammo. Her jump kit aided the momentum while she slid around the rock slab to down the woman.

Wraith reloaded her Prowler, scanning the field for Mirage. "Where's the—?"

A loud explosion disrupted the battle, and she raised a quick arm to shield her eyes from the dust rolling in waves through the area. Within seconds, it was followed by Hack unleashing an EMP on the right side of the Station. She dropped next to crates for cover at the sound of gunfire. When grime cleared enough, she found the first of the cable car team already deploying small mechanical ramps while another was sending palm-sized insect-like drones that drains people's shields like parasite. 

Wraith thought they were after Mirage at first—his ultimate's decoys were fizzling and it gave away their enemies' locations all over the place—until Gibraltar tossed his dome, then his ultimate, and his team left the ring consuming their high ground and engaged from their position. The whole field was plunged into chaos, with tacticals and ultimates exploding and igniting around them.

" _Traded shields. And a gut shot or two. I really, really need to heal up._ "

The Skirmisher honed in on Arc Star Man running past the open field and towards the fences of the two-storey building, "Take it. I have him in my sights." He reared back to throw another bomb towards what seemed to be Mirage's location, and she wasted no time clipping the bullets at his side until he slumped over the railing of the building face first. His name was Blast, according to the kill feed, and his team mate Echo bled out not long after.

"That's the last one." She said, dipping behind cover to recharge her shield, "Nice work."

" _Oh boy_." Mirage drew a sharp breath, and he swallowed audibly. She can still hear him struggling to control his breathing. A quick glance on her banner for his stats revealed he was gravely wounded inside the building. Before she can tell him to take another syringe, he said, " _This is war._ " 

The remark brought her attention back to the situation. War was befitting. The fighting on both sides of Thermal Station grew more aggressive the longer and more desperate people became. They had only a little more than minute until the ring closes in the spot next to the cafeteria house, and she knew everyone was getting ansty to finish their battles. None of them would dare to run ahead in fear of getting shot in the back, nor let themselves be blocked access from the ring.

"Stay close, brothas," Gibraltar's voice boomed above the chaos, "don't let them pick you off one by one."

" _I see Gib's in a bad mood._ " The Trickster hummed, " _I'm securing the building_ _, by the way. You?_ "

"Crates. I'll pop a quick cell and go."

He made a sharp noise of surprise. " _Uh-oh._ "

"What?"

" _I'm screwed."_ Her heart lurched when he opened fire, spending a magazine of his Carbine before he replied. " _I_ _t's trapped. Someone planted a tick variant—_ "

The building exploded, and Wraith peeked her head off cover just in time to see the balcony door shatter to pieces. Her stomach churned at the flames that burst through the metal bars and curled to the air. "Mirage?" 

It took seven, eight seconds before he slurred, " _That g_ _ot me good_." She exhaled relief at the sound of his voice. " _There were two, and I only got one in time_."

"Stop moving or you'll bleed out faster."

He laughed, too weak to be real, " _'S fine. Can't move much either way. And I think I lost a finger._ "

The Skirmisher reassessed the combat situation. It was pushing closer to the right towards the next ring and directly in front of her. Only a few meters away, Caustic was ruthlessly and efficiently boxing Path's team in with his gas traps while his team mates worked to push forward. Path deployed a zipline on top of Mirage's building as an avenue for escape but Caustic's traps went off anyway, sabotaged by a spherical droid that rolled through the map.

Wraith reloaded her Prowler and Devotion, eyeing the scant clearing in between the team battles. "On my way."

" _Don't die._ "

"Right back at you."

All things considered, the sprint should have ended well. There was a person or two who spotted and shot her, Gibraltar being one of them, and Wraith was able to push through and attack back. She got the last hit in a member of the cable car team, dodged what would have been a skullpiercered-Wingman headshot, evaded a high energy laser ultimate that burned through metal.

Until someone tossed a deafening firecracker in the air.

“What in the—”

" _Shit,_ _I know that._ _Wraith,_ " Mirage’s voice cracked through the communicator, “ _don't look._ ”

The warning came too late. The yellow canister decorated in yellow sparkles exploded and flashed bright light in the air. Its effect was immediate. Wraith hissed at the pain burning into her eyes and swayed on her steps, slapping both palms to her face. For a moment, she forgot she was in the middle of a battlefield. Her eyeballs felt like it was scraped by a fork and doused with acid, and the material of her gloves did nothing to alleviate the pressure no matter how hard she tried to rub. The Trickster's voice was an indistinct murmur above the ringing noise and blood pounding in her ear.

_Move_ , the Voices urged. _Someone's aiming at you._

“ _Wraith—_?”

A Kraber bullet hit her from the back, shattering her shield and exiting through her right chest. The sharp burn sent her tumbling forward.

“— _are you_ —?”

She phased straight into the Void, clutching a hand into the open wound. It took her two attempts before she was able to push to her feet. Faint shadows of people from her dimension were entrenched in covers, including one that was reviving the person she downed. She had just enough time to pull herself back to the crates, and opted to heal before attempting to move again.

Her eyesight flashed into white tinged by blue and purple, like the colors etched into the back of the eyes after staring at the sun for too long.

" _Tell me you're okay_."

Except shapes didn't focus when she left the chill of the Void.

She blinked once and twice, before realizing her current predicament. Anxiety shot through her system, suffocating her, and she gasped a mouthful of pungent air that drew branches into her lungs.

“I can’t see.” Her voice rose. “What am I—I can't—

" _It's okay, relax._ "

"How can I, if I can't see—”

" _Renee._ ” She snapped her mouth shut and clenched her jaw at the sound of her name. What the hell was she doing? She was starting to panic. “ _You're fine. You'll see again. Theia’s ultimate isn't permanent._ "

"We don't have that much time." Wraith shook her head. “Fuck this. I think I just threw.”

" _Hey, we're not dead yet._ " The Trickster said, inhaling in a way that she knew he was trying not to worry her. " _That's always a good thing, right? We can work with that._ "

"For now."

" _Ever the optimist._ " 

She scoffed. The other side of her cover was an amalgamation of gun fires—Carbines, Flatlines, Spitfire, Havoc, R99, Hemlok. There was another sound of Caustic's trap activated a few meters away from her going off, followed by electricity zapping and a comedic yelp of pain. Wraith wanted to say the situation looked bad if she could, you know, see. _That_ thought made her think she's hanging around Mirage too much.

" _Can you use a batt? Your shield's broken._ "

Of course she can. She's bleeding out too.

Blood was still oozing from the wound beneath her right clavicle and even the slightest movement sent pain throughout her torso but she can't see anything. She has syringes and medkits in her pack _but_. But the discomfort of putting needles into her body when she doesn't know where it's going was enough to feel her stomach clench and for cold sweat to form beads on her face. Trauma, Lifeline will call it. Weakness is what it is to her.

It's been years. She should have gotten over it by now.

“ _I can come to you._ ”

“Don't. If you come here we're both dead.”

The situation was a lot worse if simple words were enough to warrant Mirage's silence. She opened her eyes and closed, blinking seconds in between hoping it's enough to clear her sights. It wasn't and fuck it. _Fuck it,_ she thought, reaching for a battery and charging it first. She set the medkit next to her hip on the ground because it didn't matter what she felt about needles. She had to do it.

When the comm link activated again, he said, “ _I got an idea but it sounds a bit mad._ ”

“Let’s hear it.”

" _You have to trust me._ "

"Yes, I think we got that trust thing going on for a while now."

" _...honestly I don't know whether to be touched or—_ "

"Mirage," The battery charged, "the plan."

" _Sorry_." He cleared his throat, " _Well,_ _I can't move. You can't see. So we work together._ _I_ _can tell you where to go, when to duck and when to jump, you catch my drift? I can be your eye and all that cool stuff._ "

She let her head thud against the crates, feeling a headache building where it hit. “You’re right, that does sound mad.”

The Trickster snickered. " _Told ya._ "

Wraith grabbed the Medkit and tossed the case aside. She's done it hundreds of times that her wrists are galaxies of pinpricks, of faded stars that meant she got to live a little while longer. It wasn't the time to sort out her issues, she knew, but the situation reminded her of a hand clenching the back of her head— _"A few extra ccs, and the problem solves itself."_ —and immediately after, Mirage's voice unwavering— _"You can do it. See?"_ —the syringe plunged into her skin.

She doesn't live there anymore.

"Let's do it." Wraith tightened her grip on her SMG. “Your plan, I mean.”

" _Ha._ " The Trickster let out a throaty chuckle. " _Knew you'd agree._ "

"It's cause I have to pick you up."

" _Details_." He huffed weakly, " _Let me just get to the door so I can...game._ "

Wraith pushed to a crouch and drew her Prowler, patiently waiting for the pain in her upper torso to subside. The idea was insane, but actually doing it was a lot more nerve wracking than she anticipated. She circled left, keeping her shoulder against the warm containers. Further down the area, Hemlok's single bullet whit consistently, and a firing Havoc cut off before it could crest.

" _You're looking the right way. Go forward and keep low. Five, maybe six meters in you'd reach the fences._ "

Wraith took a breath and moved forward. 

It was disconcerting, having her eyes open but being unable to see anything. There was no memory for this other than her time at the IMC Lab in _her_ dimension, not this one. Project Wraith was to be kept in isolation if outside of tests, and most of the times they would lock her in a dark room for days on end, leaving her with nothing but the sound of her movement, her breaths and the Voices in her head. She yelled and mumbled and pleaded to herself just so she wouldn't go deaf from the silence.

It doesn't take a lot to believe you're crazy when you're in solitary confinement.

She doesn't live there anymore, a stark reminder at the feeling of rocks and gravel crunching underneath her boots. Patches of grasses flattened beneath her careful steps, scratching against the material of her pants. She made four strives before stepping over uneven ground. Fifth, sixth, and at her seventh she's wondering why she wasn't getting shot yet. 

That changed at the ninth step, at the ear-splitting scream of, "I found her!" followed by single-fire Hemlok battering her side. 

" _Run!_ " She winced from the feedback, then at the shots damaging her shield. Without needing to be told twice, she burst out into a sprint.

"Don't shout." 

" _Sorry, sorry. Second hand panic._ "

Gibraltar's voice boomed above the mess, "Don't let her get to Mirage, brothas!"

" _What's his problem? I don't remember being the one to piss him off._ " He considered, " _You're good but jump in two, uneven ground ahead._ "

Wraith leapt over, and the ground she landed on was significantly higher that she had to balance herself. "You piss everyone off just by existing."

" _Oh, wow Wraith._ " His comm cut off for seconds before coming alive again. She pushed the worry to the back of her head when she heard the struggle in his voice. Then he said, " _Yeah...get that. Hard not to envy me. I'm perfect._ "

"Someone kill me right now."

Mirage laughed breathlessly. _"Careful or they might hear_ _you_." 

"Pin the other team," Hemlok man drawled, "I'll take care of her first."

"Vido, no. I didn't mean chase after—don't go in by yourself brotha, help Theia instead." The Fortress' voice was stern and harsh, "Spirits, Vido!" 

" _His ass of a team mate's_ _gunning after you now._ " Mirage said, " _Aiming. Move left._ "

The Skirmisher jumped without hesitating, feeling the heavy ammo fly past her. She dipped and strafed, moving in the same instinctive pattern engraved into her bones and muscles. "I want to shoot him."

" _It's t_ _oo open. Think you should go around the fence._ " He pointed out, " _Duck and move right. You'd get shot if you try to climb over._ "

Wraith let the Jump Kit carry her momentum when she slid to the direction just as light bullets barraged onto where she was. "He'll never leave me. I need to take him down."

The moment he stopped to reload, she turned and opened fire. Her bullets hit nothing. She wasn't surprised at the outcome but it was worth the try.

Wraith never appreciated being able to reload her gun without looking until now, when she had to use most of her senses in predicting her enemy's activity. She tossed the used magazine off and reached to her pack for another. The second she heard movement, she opened fire again.

" _Move your aim a little, uh, seventy, no. Sixty degrees_."

She tilted her aim towards the direction, and her grand spray and pray hit towards the end of her bullets.

"She's blinded." Hemlok man sneered. They don't hear what Gibraltar said in return, but he let out a mocking noise. "You think highly of them, Makoa. Watch me take this one. I won't even need a weapon."

" _He holstered his gun. Just strafing quick towards you_." The Trickster's voice turned tight. " _Well h_ _e's getting cocky, isn't he?_ "

The next Prowler magazine was a complete miss, her enemy's movement too quick for directions. Wraith could hear the steps coming towards her and somewhere behind, Bangalore's tactical detonated when it hit the ground. Gas grenades started hissing white smog that curled around her. 

" _You're in Bangs's smoke, I can't see you._ " Mirage paused. When he spoke again, there's a spike of excitement in his voice. " _But he can't either._ _Wraith, you can take him melee. You're disadvantaged with guns, but you can take him when he comes at you—_ "

His footsteps were drawing closer, and she holstered her Prowler for her kunai. 

Sometimes she thinks Mirage believes in her too much, because even she had limitations she's never gone beyond of. She fought in the dark when they're _in_ the dark. Not midday on an open field where's she's running around like a headless chicken. The fear of disappointment was there, starting to itch her skin but at the same time: a spark of determination.

" _—he's not a big guy. Octane's built. You game?_ "

She clenched her fists and readied her stance, "Won't be the craziest thing we did today."

" _Alright, w_ _hile you do that I'm..._ " His words were ragged, " _...gonna rest my eyes for a bit._ "

"I'll be there." The words were more a promise than a statement when she said them, and the part of her that didn't often gave into the stress of the Games briefly acknowledged the possibility of his death. Then Vido's footsteps came closer, and she knew she had to focus.

_In front of you._

It's the first hint of the Voices; she never really noticed they were gone until she deflected a fist that was coming to her face. He followed with a jab, but she anticipated the action and blocked it.

"Dangerous." Hemlok man sneered. Wraith moved the opposite of him circling, keeping an even space. "Makoa said you and Mirage, you're dangerous together. Meanwhile, I caught him with my tick traps. You're next, Wraith." He feinted and she didn't buy into it. "He can't save you right now."

Her lips curled into a sneer, "He doesn't need to."

Vido lunged and Wraith broke his armor at the price of hers.

Mirage was unsurprisingly right with the assessment. She couldn't see her opponent enough to gauge his movement, so she went defense and left deliberate openings to bait her opponent into taking it. She turned her arm in a way that her side was open, and moved quick to counter when he surged forward. It didn't take much to know he wasn't an experienced close quarter combatant. As soon as she got a hold of his arm, she grasped his wrist and slung her leg over his appendage in a quick maneuver. Following with a swift pivot, she put her entire weight on the arm and twisted, feeling the limb snap when the two of them crashed to the ground. Her opponent yelled a loud string of curses.

It was an unsteady lock, and he slammed his fist against her thigh, twice that she was aware he might have fractured her bones before she could bury her kunai deep into his neck. He cried out, and Wraith drew herself back, shooting him with her Prowler until he stopped moving. She swallowed mouthful of air, swaying on her feet when she pushed up. Oh yeah, something was definitely broken.

"Damn it Vido!" Gibraltar's voice crackled above the mess.

_Multiple hostiles._

" _Wraith, Gib is coming at you. Phase out._ "

"I don't think it's ready."

" _It is._ " He said, in a tone that warranted trust, " _Two of my decoys, one of your tactical._ "

Wraith clenched her fist. The phase tech whirred to life. "Should I ask how you know this?"

" _You can._ " Mirage answered smugly, " _You can th—_ "

His audio feed caught off, or maybe it was the jump into the chill of the Void. It was a relief to be able to see again, and she looked around to get a bearing on her surroundings. There's a version of her that hesitated jumping to the Void and was promptly shot by two people. Wraith muttered a "Multiple hostiles," to the next version following the same fate. With the service done, she heaved herself around the fence and turned to the two-storey building. An echo of whispers followed hers.

Her eyesight was better when she shifted back to the dimension. There were still spots in her vision and she couldn't quite focus, but it was enough to hop over the building railing and shove the door open. She shot up the stairs, hopping over the remains of tick grenades and searched for the Trickster.

"Hey, you're here."

Mirage raised his head from his chest and smiled. He's sitting by the balcony door, drenching a significant portion of the floor with his blood. His clothes, some silver ensemble his sponsors called Ghost Machine, was charred all over from tanking the tick. All of his limbs were most likely bruised from the impact although he had no open wounds, except the puncture one on his rib he's pressing his hand to. _Don't move_ was the immediate command on the tip of her tongue, but the words that came out are different.

"I said I'll be here, didn't I?"

"I know. You always come. That's why I waited."

Wraith didn't know what to make of the confession. She knelt at his side and found his injured rib worse than it appeared. "Staying alive through sheer willpower, huh?"

"You know it. Too stubborn to die."

With as much care as she could manage from her exhausted limbs, she slid her arm around his neck and lowered him to the floor. Her fingers traced the spaces between his suit for optimal position of the syringe and he'd tease her often about feeling him but he didn't right now. That spoke a lot about the blood loss; he's probably woozy. She jabbed and the potent mix of adrenaline and nanites left him gasping. When he reached out she grasped his wrist and helped him to his feet.

"Half of the time I'll be dead if it ain't for you." He staggered between steps, and she wrapped her arm around his upper body when he almost slipped from his own blood. "You know that, don't you?"

Mirage glanced at her, his eyes shining, and it's in the way he appeared so genuinely happy to see her that made her heart leap. _Why are you looking at me like that_ , was her genuine confusion but she didn't dare voice it _._ She ended up rolling her eyes and turning her head, hoping the heat on her face was passable for the exhaustion creeping on her body.

"Knock it off Witt, you're getting sappy."

His shoulders shook when he laughed, and she let him go by the desk so he could charge his shield. This wasn't the time or the place to analyze her trail of thoughts. He was still bleeding after all, even with a Med Kit, but it would have to settle on its own. "You can see now?"

She recharged her own armor, "Not a hundred but yes."

"Good, because Gib won his team fight, and you killed his squad mate."

Within seconds of saying the words, the tell-tale heavy footsteps of the Fortress thumped outside their building and a more familiar spike of adrenaline rushed through her veins. He's probably checking out on Vido, but Wraith doubted there's still anything left of his squad mate to save. She glanced on her device to check on the feed updates. "Caustic won their team battle, and I'm guessing both squads are going to wait for us to come out instead. Ring's closing in ten."

Mirage reloaded his Carbine and fixed a challenging look at her, "Think we can win this?"

Honestly, she doubted it. Caustic and his team mates probably has the ring loaded with traps and their ultimates while Gibraltar and Theia were probably out there waiting to shoot them the moment they leave cover. But Mirage's here with her, and when they both think they have a chance

Wraith shook her head and felt her lips twitch to a grin, "I don't see why not."

**Warning: Ring movement in progress.**

**Author's Note:**

> this chapter was among the ones that expired from my draft list lol. this also happens to be a set up for future parts, which will hopefully be heartbreaking when we get there. thank you for reading! :)♡


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